RE: Natura perfume ingredients

[Guest guest]

so what makes a natural perfumery ingredient " natural " .

both ambroxan and geraniol (and the alpha and beta ionones) are

derived from natural sources, but they are all very much manipulated

(broken and rearranged) to be isolated. it's not a matter of simple

distillation or solvent extraction.

i've been asking this question to my customers for the past few

months, and there is a general consensus of opinion in the general public.

i liked the way a 12 yr old girl put it.

" Natural perfumes are made of ingredients found in nature. If we were

able to take a flower or whatever, squeeze it really really hard, the

juice that would come out is what you would put in your perfume " .

So what the general public, at least the ones i've sampled (about 100

or so) believes is that oils that come out of the plant are whats used.

they don't believe that molecules manipulated by man (ie. broken into

pieces) would belong.

so i think for myself if i were going to advertise that a perfume was

a completely natural one, i would take into consideration the public's

assumption that there would be no ingredients like geraniol or ionones

or ambroxan etc etc. If i had a scent that did contain these

ingredients, I would explain (as i try to do everyday) the differences

in the methods of production.

-linda

The Perfumer's Apprentice

www.perfumersapprentice.com

Hi ,

I think the twelve year old got it right! If it can be squeezed from the

plant, it is natural, otherwise not. Personally, I am not too concerned

about how the squeezing is done. So, steam distillation is fine with me, as

is extraction with volatile solvents such as hexane. So is fractional

distillation, in which some parts are kept and some parts are discarded. So

are certain isolates. I have no problem at all with extracting linalool

from rosewood oil, for example. If the isolate is the same material that

exists in the plant, then to me it is natural. If it has been altered, to

me it is no longer natural.

How do you or your customers feel about materials that are added to natural

ingredients to make them work better? For example, producers often add

solvents to materials like benzoin resinoid and other resinous stuff to make

it pourable. For my part, I don't object: the fragrant material is

natural.

I also agree with you about catering to the public's assumption about what

they are getting. This idea could apply even to all-natural materials. I

would think it wrong to label a bottle " natural lilac perfume " if it

contained a combination of natural materials blended to smell like lilac.

Customers reading that label would assume they were getting something that

had been derived from lilacs, which would not be true.

Steve Earl

Glen Custom Perfumery

[Guest guest]

At 09:47 AM 4/8/2006, you wrote:

>i've been asking this question to my customers for the past few

>months, and there is a general consensus of opinion in the general public.

>i liked the way a 12 yr old girl put it.

> " Natural perfumes are made of ingredients found in nature. If we were

>able to take a flower or whatever, squeeze it really really hard, the

>juice that would come out is what you would put in your perfume " .

>

>So what the general public, at least the ones i've sampled (about 100

>or so) believes is that oils that come out of the plant are whats used.

>they don't believe that molecules manipulated by man (ie. broken into

>pieces) would belong.

>-linda

>The Perfumer's Apprentice

>www.perfumersapprentice.com

That's about it, ;-) Squeeze those flowers! To me, natural perfumery

means the source material comes from nature.

Steve wrote:

>Hi ,

>

>I think the twelve year old got it right! If it can be squeezed from the

>plant, it is natural, otherwise not. Personally, I am not too concerned

>about how the squeezing is done. So, steam distillation is fine with me, as

>is extraction with volatile solvents such as hexane. So is fractional

>distillation, in which some parts are kept and some parts are discarded. So

>are certain isolates. I have no problem at all with extracting linalool

>from rosewood oil, for example. If the isolate is the same material that

>exists in the plant, then to me it is natural. If it has been altered, to

>me it is no longer natural.

Well, I might not use rosewood as an example (as I don't use rosewood due

to ecological demands), but I agree with you on these points, too, Steve.

>How do you or your customers feel about materials that are added to natural

>ingredients to make them work better? For example, producers often add

>solvents to materials like benzoin resinoid and other resinous stuff to make

>it pourable. For my part, I don't object: the fragrant material is

>natural.

Just for the alchemical kick, I like to get the tough resin and work it

into usable form myself. But, you know I'm an herbalist, a

tincturer/infuser, who likes to get down and dirty with the raw materials.

I think that in the area of full disclosure, it would be right for the

natural perfumer to list all sources.

>I also agree with you about catering to the public's assumption about what

>they are getting. This idea could apply even to all-natural materials. I

>would think it wrong to label a bottle " natural lilac perfume " if it

>contained a combination of natural materials blended to smell like lilac.

>Customers reading that label would assume they were getting something that

>had been derived from lilacs, which would not be true.

Absolutely agree. " Lilac flower accord artistically blended with aromatics

to duplicate the elusive lilac flower " would do well. ;-)

Anya

http://.com

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[Guest guest]

-linda

The Perfumer's Apprentice

wrote

i've been asking this question to my customers for the past few

> months, and there is a general consensus of opinion in the general public.

> i liked the way a 12 yr old girl put it.

> " Natural perfumes are made of ingredients found in nature. If we were

> able to take a flower or whatever, squeeze it really really hard, the

> juice that would come out is what you would put in your perfume " .

I think that response is precious and accurate. I only use essential oil,

absolutes, infusions, and macerations

that are from the " plant " . Isolates, nature identicals, etc do not interest

me for natural perfumery.

JoAnne

Le Bijou, a natural perfume boutique http://www.JoAnneBassett.com

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Bassett Aromatherapy products http://www.AromaWorld.com